I have to admit, on my trip to Aso on Friday, I was a bit pissed off. I had heard so much about the great Japanese train system, and just when I travel by train, everything is delayed. So I prepared to write a great rant about how the Japanese trains are no better than the German ones. And then I heard about the earthquake.
So, no rant. Due to the delays, I missed two connections in my journey and arrived about two hours later than intended. I called the hostel to tell them I was going to be late, and it turned out to be no problem at all. And who do I meet on the last leg of my journey, in the local train to Aso? Germans, of course. Seems you really can't go anywhere without running into some of them... As it turns out, the guy works for Siemens medical in Tokyo - and previously used to work in Erlangen, where I lived before coming to Japan. Small world, eh?
On Sunday, my image of Japanese train travel was fully restored. I got on the brand-new Kyushu Shinkansen (it had opened just this Saturday), and all trains were almost frighteningly on time.
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| Interior of the new Kyushu Shinkansen (each compartment had a different interior design, this is the one I chose) |
Traveling in Japanese trains is slightly different from German trains. Here's what I noticed:
- Nobody checks your ticket in the Shinkansen - because both ticket and seat reservation are checked in the automated ticket gate. So without a ticket, you can't even get close to boarding a train.
- There are vending machines in the train - and they are not significantly more expensive than regular vending machines (a drink that usually goes for 120 Yen was sold for 130 in the train).
- When the staff in a train move from one car to another, they stop, turn and bow each time they leave a compartment.
- Railfans: on all the Shinkansen stations I have been to so far, there were (Japanese) people taking pictures of the trains. Most of them using their mobile phones, but on each end of the platform there were a handful of people with really good and expensive cameras.
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| Notice the camera-equipped people on the right-hand side of the picture |
I joined them, of course... have a look:
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| Yes, I do realize that the train is focused instead of me and that I have a slight sunburn ;-) |
